[[The Way of the Master]] is a Christian evangelism ministry founded in 2002, lead by Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron and Todd Friel. The organization, together with Living Waters Publications, produces a television show, a radio show, books, tracts, and training courses.

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[[The Way of the Master]] is a Christian evangelism ministry founded in 2002, lead by Ray Comfort, [[Kirk Cameron]] and [[Todd Friel]]. The organization, together with Living Waters Publications, produces a television show, a radio show, books, tracts, and training courses.

==Atheist Central==

==Atheist Central==

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Ray Comfort runs a blog called 'The Atheist Central'. The blog was initially called 'Comfort Food', however it was later renamed to 'The Soapbox' as Ray Comfort felt the name to be misleading, as it gave the impression of the blog being a "cozy corner for Christian fun, food, and fellowship"[http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-name-change.html].

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Ray Comfort runs a blog called 'Words of Comfort'. The blog was initially called 'Comfort Food', however it was later renamed to 'The Soapbox' as Ray Comfort felt the name to be misleading, as it gave the impression of the blog being a "cozy corner for Christian fun, food, and fellowship".<ref>http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-name-change.html</ref>

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In 2009, the blog was once again renamed, this time to 'The Atheist Central'. Ray Comfort states that the reason behind the name is because atheists flood towards his blog as bugs would towards a barbecue. [http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2009/08/once-again-despite-title-of-rays-blog.html]

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In 2009, the blog was once again renamed, this time to 'The Atheist Central'. Ray Comfort states that the reason behind the name is because atheists flood towards his blog as bugs would towards a barbecue.<ref>http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2009/08/once-again-despite-title-of-rays-blog.html</ref>

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==Beliefs==

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In December 2011, the blog was once again renamed, this time to 'Words of Comfort'. This rename includes a change in direction beginning January 1, 2012. Ray admitted to not being involved in the blog for the last 6 months, instead using old posts because he was, "bored with atheism". He vowed to once again begin daily blogging with a wider focus than just atheism.<ref>http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2011/12/words-of-comfort.html</ref>

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Ray Comfort is an evangelical Christian and a Biblical literalist who does not accept [[evolution]]. At times he seems to be a [[Young-Earth creationist]], while at others he seems deliberately vague about the age of the universe.

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In his live apologetics, Comfort states that once someone is born-again, [[God]] forgives them for all their [[sin]]s. The following is a direct quote: "Once and for all and the moment you trust in him [Jesus Christ] you are completely justified and made right with God, you are made perfect by God's grace. That has nothing to do with living a good life, pleasing God because you can't because you a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart. The only thing you can do is repent and trust in him. The minute you do, in a heartbeat God justifies you. Cleanses you of your sin and you are born again. God gives you a new heart with a new set of desires and you know you are going to escape death and damnation." (Source: Ray Comfort stated this on his [[Mormonism (Way of the Master)|Mormonism program]] when interviewing several Mormons on camera)

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==Arguments==

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Some people find this uncomfortable as it suggests that people can commit terrible sins like rape, murder, even genocide (Hitler) and still get to heaven so long as they repent at the last minute though this point is not unique to Ray Comfort. That message, convert and you will be saved persuades people to become followers of Ray Comfort and to start using/buying his material.

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* [[Are you a good person?]]

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Ray maintains part of the time that the Bible says that we are saved by grace alone and not by works. He quotes Titus and Ephesians 2:8-9, which says that not by works of righteousness, but according to God's mercy. Does the Bible say that salvation is by grace alone and not by works? Should we be baptized? Psalm 62:12 says "For you render to each one according to his works."

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* The [[Banana argument]]

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Once people have become followers of Ray Comfort they get fearful because they cannot stop sinning.

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* The [[Crocoduck]]

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"Merely being sorry for your sins, or confessing them to God won't help you. You must turn from sin (repent), and your faith must be in Jesus Christ alone. " [http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=81&Itemid=229]Should faith be in Jesus or in the [[Trinity]] and the whole of Christianity? Unless people can stop themselves sinning their conversion may be what Comfort calls a [[True and False Conversion (Way of the Master)|false conversion]] and nobody can avoid sinning. So people stay followers of Ray and Kirk and keep on doing what Ray’s system tells them in the desperate hope that they will be saved in spite of every sin.

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* The [[Parachute analogy]]

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It seems Ray (and Kirk) do not know the Bible, or sometimes purposely [[Cherry picking|cherry-pick]] one side of the discrepancies to make other branches of Christianity appear foolish to give their faith more credibility.

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Other branches of Christianity believe that both works and faith are required, some believe God has already predetermined your eternal fate, all can find some aparent confirmation for their position in the Bible or other supposed revelation.

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==View towards Atheists==

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A great deal of Ray Comfort's work involves opposing [[atheism]], according to Ray, "An atheist is someone who believes that nothing made everything. He will deny that through gritted teeth, because it is an intellectual embarrassment. But if he says of his Toyota that he has no belief that there was a maker, then he thinks that nothing made it (it just happened), which is a scientific impossibility. So, to remain credible, he falls back on something made everything, but he just doesn’t know what that something was. So he’s not an atheist–he believes in an initial cause." Ray Comfort encourages all Christians to not be intimidated by atheists because "they're not intelligent, the bible says they're fools." [http://dailyevidence.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/somehow-intellectuals/]

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Comfort is relying here on a [[straw man]] portrayals of [[atheism]], particularly when he falsely claims that [[atheists believe in nothing]]. An atheist is somebody who does not believe in any gods, and atheism in itself is not a belief system. The rest of the quote reworks the [[argument from design]]. Incidentally we have experience that cars are made in factories, scientists also have evidence that [[natural]] forces can create patterns in for example snowflakes and [[natural selection]] can account for aparent design in living things. An intelligent designer is not needed.

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==Favorite arguments==

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Ray believes there are three "irrefutable" evidences for God.

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# Creation: Using a coca-cola can as an example, Ray "theorizes" the origin of the can came from billions of years ago, as a straw man analogy for the universe coming from the Big Bang. This is, in essence, an [[argument from design]].

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# Conscience: According to Ray, God put within each of us conscience when God made us in his image. This separates us from the other animals since we have the ability to know right from wrong. But, according to Ray, our conscience has "lost its life on the outside" and each of us are "self-admitted blaspheming, lying, thieving, adulterers at heart" and could only be restored by the Ten Commandments. He then goes on to leverage this by asking "[[Are you a good person?]]" See that article for responses.

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# Conversion: According to Ray, if you believe in God and seek him out, you will find him. "That is the ultimate proof." He invites unbelievers to experience proof of god by [[personal revelation]].

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===Additional arguments===

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* Comfort is fond of the watchmaker argument [[argument from design]]. He will sometimes say something along the lines of "If I see a watch, it must have been made by a watchmaker, a loaf of bread by a baker, a building by an engineer, a creation by a creator." He will also say "Creation is 100% Scientific proof there was a creator."

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* Comfort is the original author of the [[banana argument]], in the ''[[Way of the Master]]'' episode entitled "[[The Beauty of a Broken Spirit—Atheism (Way of the Master)|The Beauty of a Broken Spirit—Atheism]]". Although he called it "the atheist's worst nightmare" in the episode, he later conceded the weakness of the argument on the [[Hellbound Alleee]] show. Comfort still uses it, however, and promotes it in his [http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=231 Atheist Test] tract.

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* Comfort is also the original author of the [[parachute analogy]], a variation of [[Pascal's Wager]], where he tries to convince the listener to trust in Jesus as they would trust a parachute.

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* Comfort apparently targets the elderly with mailed greeting cards asking them to predict when they will die, and threatening them with the fear of Hell. [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10684299 ] [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/10/why_do_you_think_i_call_it_a_d.php 2]

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==Live appearances==

==Live appearances==

===Debate with the Rational Response Squad===

===Debate with the Rational Response Squad===

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On May 5, 2007, RRS co-founder Brian Sapient and RRS member Kelly O'Connor participated in a live debate aired on Nightline with [[Ray Comfort]] and [[Kirk Cameron]]. Comfort and Cameron claimed they were able to show the existence of their god without the use of the [[Bible]] and [[faith]] (spoiler: they were wrong).

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On May 5, 2007, Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron engaged Rational Response Squad members Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor in a debate on the existence of God. ABC's Nightline aired the debate online, and a two-part summary was shown on their May 9 broadcast. Comfort and Cameron claimed they were able to prove the existence of the Judeo-Christian god scientifically without the use of the [[Bible]] and [[faith]]. It was also during this debate that the [[crocoduck]] argument was first made.

===Appearance on ''The Atheist Experience''===

===Appearance on ''The Atheist Experience''===

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*''Saving Yourself Some Pain'' is a gospel tract by Ray Comfort, presented to new Christians and unbelievers. It contains a exhortation for all Christians to be [[baptism|baptized]], even though Ray usually claims that sinners are saved only by grace, not by works.

*''Saving Yourself Some Pain'' is a gospel tract by Ray Comfort, presented to new Christians and unbelievers. It contains a exhortation for all Christians to be [[baptism|baptized]], even though Ray usually claims that sinners are saved only by grace, not by works.

*''Scientific Facts of the Bible'' is a shortened version of Ray's book, ''Scientific Facts in the Bible'' (see above).

*''Scientific Facts of the Bible'' is a shortened version of Ray's book, ''Scientific Facts in the Bible'' (see above).

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==References==

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<references/>

==External links==

==External links==

*"[http://raytractors.blogspot.com/ The Raytractors]" now at "[http://www.wearesmrt.com/ WeAreSMRT]", Ray Comfort's Detractors, a community of atheists and theists who critique and respond to Ray and the Way of the Master.

*"[http://raytractors.blogspot.com/ The Raytractors]" now at "[http://www.wearesmrt.com/ WeAreSMRT]", Ray Comfort's Detractors, a community of atheists and theists who critique and respond to Ray and the Way of the Master.

Way of the Master

The Way of the Master is a Christian evangelism ministry founded in 2002, lead by Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron and Todd Friel. The organization, together with Living Waters Publications, produces a television show, a radio show, books, tracts, and training courses.

Atheist Central

Ray Comfort runs a blog called 'Words of Comfort'. The blog was initially called 'Comfort Food', however it was later renamed to 'The Soapbox' as Ray Comfort felt the name to be misleading, as it gave the impression of the blog being a "cozy corner for Christian fun, food, and fellowship".[1]

In 2009, the blog was once again renamed, this time to 'The Atheist Central'. Ray Comfort states that the reason behind the name is because atheists flood towards his blog as bugs would towards a barbecue.[2]

In December 2011, the blog was once again renamed, this time to 'Words of Comfort'. This rename includes a change in direction beginning January 1, 2012. Ray admitted to not being involved in the blog for the last 6 months, instead using old posts because he was, "bored with atheism". He vowed to once again begin daily blogging with a wider focus than just atheism.[3]

Arguments

Live appearances

Debate with the Rational Response Squad

On May 5, 2007, Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron engaged Rational Response Squad members Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor in a debate on the existence of God. ABC's Nightline aired the debate online, and a two-part summary was shown on their May 9 broadcast. Comfort and Cameron claimed they were able to prove the existence of the Judeo-Christian god scientifically without the use of the Bible and faith. It was also during this debate that the crocoduck argument was first made.

How to Bring Your Children to Christ..& Keep Them There: Avoiding the Tragedy of False Conversion

Out of the Comfort Zone

Overcoming Panic Attacks

The World's Greatest Preachers

Wesley Gold

What Did Jesus Do? : A Call to Return to the Biblical Gospel

How to Live Forever Without Being Religious

What Hollywood Believes: An Intimate Look at the Faith of the Famous

Thanks a Million!

Hollywood Be Thy Name

Russia Will Attack Israel

Gospel Tracts

Ray Comfort and Way of the Master produce many gospel tracts, which generally include abridged versions of the arguments presented in his books and Way of the master episodes. Some of these tracts are decorated with attention-getting gimmicks, such as optical illusions, fake million dollar bills, penny presses, etc. Most notably:

Saving Yourself Some Pain is a gospel tract by Ray Comfort, presented to new Christians and unbelievers. It contains a exhortation for all Christians to be baptized, even though Ray usually claims that sinners are saved only by grace, not by works.

Scientific Facts of the Bible is a shortened version of Ray's book, Scientific Facts in the Bible (see above).